As rpowell has pointed out elsewhere, looks like the Men's WC is coming back to Manchester in 2018. Likelihood is that it will be at the Manchester University facility again - a repeat of the 2010 success; but are there alternative venues?

Personally enjoyed playing at the University as it had everything (except decent changing facilities). Interested to hear spectators' and festival players' viewpoints too as that is what I will be next time around. Do we need to get in touch with the man from Mahou?

There you go Waggy, something for discussion and not trying to sell you anything...

Jedi Lax #9CEng MIMechE_______________

My views are not necessarily those of Clarendon Road Primary School Pop Lacrosse Team

I personally thought it was a pretty good venue. It was nice to be able to watch Blue and other division games at one place. It meant that there were quite a few people around which made for a good atmosphere. Wish i could have made more than one day!

Davo, the submission to the FIL was based upon the same facilities being used.My guess is that the whole concept was based around the same partners .... Manchester City Council and Manchester University.

Things that will be great in Denver 2014: fantastic organisation; wonderful facilities; largest crowds most teams will ever play in front of; the Iroquois Nationals will be there.Thing that will suck in Denver 2014: distance from accommodation to playing venue.

Been to over 20 World & European Events, and the ones with the best player experience tend to be those with co-located accommodation & playing facilities.

I expect Manchester in 2018 to be one the better events: imagine 2010 but with even more teams. Even the Iroquois

The bigger the tournament becomes, the more difficult it is for emerging countries to host the event. Not only that, but the costs escalate and there are not many venues that can guarantee not only to cover those costs (through spectators etc), but also make a donation to the FIL. The FIL would be brave indeed to risk entering unproven territory. How long before there are restrictions to participate in the event i.e. qualification tournaments?

I think the venue at the Firs worked well, with all the matches located in one place. It made for a truly all encompassing lacrosse festival - if you discount the Iroquois not being allowed into the UK!. I assume with 5 years notice our wonderful government (of whichever political persuasion) can sort this one out for 2018 - mind you I would not bet my house on it if UKIP are in power by then!

The fact that everything was all in one place encouraged players and spectators of all ages to attend and get involved. It may not be the biggest venue in terms of seating capacity but it was sufficient given the size of the game in the UK and the ability and willingness of overseas visitors to come and visit. I think it will be so again in 2018 despite the likely growth in the game elsewhere on the planet and to a lesser extent here in the UK. It was far better to have a capacity crowd of circa 5,000 generating a great atmosphere and some 'friendly' banter than finding ourselves echoing in a half empty larger venue such as Gigg Lane in Bury back in the mid 1990's

If we could guarantee to fill a larger venue such as those suggested it would be worthy of consideration but in my view there are potentially major downsides to this approach. One is that we don't fill the stadium and the costs of hiring the venue result in financial disaster for the organsers and the ELA - a likely outcome given the size of the game in the UK. Secondly, these stadiums will likely only be able to host the Blue and Red division games and having to travel to a different venue for them will, in my opinion, reduce attendances for those games and reduce the support back at the main venue for the remaining divisions, Masters, etc. This will also the damage the commercial opportunities for sponsors, retailers catering providers etc. and have a possible detrimental effect on the finances of the games.

The split site approach would also affect the friendly nature of the 2010 games where players from the elite to the kids just starting out could mix and relax in each others company which was in my opinion a strength of those championships.

You asked for thoughts on the subject and these are mine but please note I am not always right!

kino wrote:I assume with 5 years notice our wonderful government (of whichever political persuasion) can sort this one out for 2018 - mind you I would not bet my house on it if UKIP are in power by then!

From my understanding the UK government would let them in, It was the USA who would not have allowed them back on their Iroquois passports as they don't meet some set of criteria. Anyway that's for a separate thread.